TechCrunch Disrupt: Intuit and Instagram Discuss the “Lean StartUp”

Posted on September 14th, 2011

TechCrunch’s bi-annual TechCrunch Disrupt conference took place in San Francisco this week, attracting start-ups, entrepreneurs and tech lovers to hear about the latest and greatest from companies both large and small. Yesterday, Intuit Founder Scott Cook, and Instagram Co-founder Kevin Systrom took the stage with Eric Ries, former CTO at IMVU, to discuss Ries’ book, “The Lean StartUp.”

The discussion started with Ries diving into the definition of the word ‘lean,’ as he believes it is often misconstrued as meaning cheap or frugal. Ries said, “for starters, ‘lean’ does not mean being cheap or frugal, it’s about being efficient and taking a smarter approach to the development of your product.”

Both Scott Cook and Kevin Systrom weighed in with input from their own innovations, and the importance of running a lean company. You can hear their observations in the video below.

As financial institutions begin to broaden their product line-ups to meet increasingly diverse customer needs, tapping into the “lean startup” mentality could be a beneficial approach. Can financial institutions adapt, adopt and go, or do business realities stand in the way? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below, or Tweet @bankingdotocm.